Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Kyle Shanahan's fond memories of Houston include queso and success

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Kyle Shanahan's road to becoming head coach of the San Francisco 49ers took him through multiple stops with varying degrees of success.

Clearly, each move helped him in some way, whether it was tumultuous times in Washington, a brief stop in Cleveland or coming up just short of winning a Super Bowl in Atlanta. And though Shanahan's first NFL job technically came with Tampa Bay, his NFL coaching career kicked into overdrive with the Houston Texans.

Before Shanahan's 49ers played the Redskins earlier this season, Shanahan talked at length about the lessons he learned in dealing with adversity and enduring tough times. This week, as Shanahan's Niners prepare to play the Texans, he illustrated the differences between those two spots in his coaching career.

Asked Wednesday what he took away from his time in Houston, Shanahan smiled and offered nothing but positive memories from his four years as the Texans' receiver coach then quarterbacks coach then offensive coordinator.

“I loved my time in Houston," Shanahan said. "I went to school in Austin so I’ve always loved the state of Texas. Going down to Houston, lots of good people. Very down-to-earth people. Great food out there. I miss the Tex-Mex the most, and the queso. ... That was my first time as a position coach, got to be a receiver coach there and then a quarterback coach, and my first two years as a coordinator. Back then I didn’t have as many scars. Everything went pretty good. In our two years as a coordinator it went real well. Had a lot of good memories from there. I’ve left and gone to a bunch of different places. Had to do different things. Houston’s a good city, a good football town. It’s a good organization.”

Much has changed in Houston and for Shanahan since he departed to join his father, Mike, as Washington's offensive coordinator in 2010. By his count, only owner Robert McNair, general manager Rick Smith and linebacker Brian Cushing remain with the organization since he left. Shanahan had stints as offensive coordinator in Washington, Cleveland and Atlanta before finally landing his first head coaching job this offseason.

But Shanahan spent his formative years in Houston. After spending 2004 and 2005 in Tampa as the offensive quality control coach, Shanahan began coaching wideouts for the Texans in 2006. He moved to quarterbacks the following year and then became a coordinator for the first time in 2008. At the time, he was the youngest coordinator in the NFL.

And based on his first run as a coordinator, Shanahan had to feel like things were easier than expected. Under Shanahan's guidance, the Texans became one of the most explosive offenses in the league, finishing third in yards per game in 2008 and fourth in 2009. Quarterback Matt Schaub led the NFL in passing yards in 2009 and receiver Andre Johnson led the league in receiving yards both years. Others, such as tight end Owen Daniels and receiver Kevin Walter, also enjoyed some of their greatest NFL success with Shanahan in charge.

That instant success might have painted Shanahan's world view as he went to other franchises but it always gave him confidence that the things he believed in could work at the NFL level.

“In my first couple years in Houston what we did worked and it worked with the people we had," Shanahan said. "That’s all I knew so I thought it would work everywhere. I go to Washington, didn’t work the same way. You’re forced as a coach to adjust. It’s frustrating at first because you want to do what seemed easy at the time but it didn’t work. You’ve got to adjust to your players. I think I had to do that year-in and year-out at Washington. Which forced me to just evolve. We had some pretty good years in Washington offensively. Then when I went to Cleveland I had to adjust and it was different. When I went to Atlanta I had to adjust and it was different. You have a foundation of what you believe in, but just the path of being fortunate enough to be a coordinator for those nine years and to go to four different places and do it. You don’t feel it at the time, but looking back on it, it makes you a lot better because you realize there’s always ways you want to do things but it doesn’t always work that way. If you’re forced to adjust I think it makes you a better coach in the long run.”

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